Douglas County Ballot Returns "Light" Thus Far Says Auditor

Voting has gotten underway in Douglas County for next month's general election.

Ballots were mailed out to the county's 27,000 registered voters eight days ago, and thus far Douglas County Auditor Thad Duvall says returns have been disappointing.

"We just picked up ballots from our drop boxes around the county yesterday for the first time and so far the turn out has been pretty light. I was really hoping for a fifty- or sixty-percent turnout but if we continue to see a light return it might turn out to be as low as forty percent. So we're hopeful that more people will vote as we get closer to Election Day."

Duvall says it may not be a year with any marquee state or federal races on the ballot but there's still a lot going on at the local level.

"We have races going on all over the county this year, some of which are contested. We have races for mayors and city councils, sewer and water districts, fire and hospital districts - there are all kinds of issues on the ballot. The people who hold these positions that we vote on make a lot of decisions that affect all of our lives locally, so it's very important that people vote and return their ballots as quickly as possible."

Duvall says anyone who is registered to vote within the county that has not yet received a ballot should call the auditors office to have a new one mailed.

All ballots must be placed in a drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day or postmarked by Nov. 7 to be officially counted.